The present invention relates to a medical device in general, and more particularly to a device used in surgical applications.
Still more specifically, the invention relates to a skin approximator.
Devices of this general type are known per se. Their purpose is to draw the skin edges together from opposite sides of a wound, to permit the wound to be closed by suturing or stapling. A problem with the prior art devices is that they are only capable of butting the skin edges together. It is known, however, that this does not produce as neat a final scar as is obtained when the skin edges are everted, i.e. bent outwardly (relative to the skin surface) so that they in effect form a slight "bead". This leaves the person closing the wound with the choice of simply butting the skin edges with the aid of the approximator, leaving the patient to accept the less attractive scar tissue development which results from this, or to attempt to evert the skin edges by hand which is difficult if not impossible to accomplish.